Mass Effect PC, Spore To Have Borderline Crazy DRM

I was excited about Spore. I love Will Wright’s work and it’s basically a combination of all my favorite past Maxis games. EA, apparently getting word of this, began a quest to harsh my buzz. First they tried to sell me an expansion before the game is even released, and now they’ve unveiled a DRM scheme for the PC port of Mass Effect and Spore that seems ridiculously ill-advised.

Here’s the quick version: As with most games, Spore will require online validation when you install it. You’ll be required to input a CD key or something. That part is fine, that’s normal. The new twist is that it will require an automatic re-validation every ten days after that or it will unceremoniously stop working. Don’t get online for 11 days and the program, which you paid for and already validated once, is as good as dead.

This doesn’t immediately affect me. I’ll pay for the game and I’m perpetually connected to the Internet, if I wasn’t told I wouldn’t even notice. The problem is that the esteemed Mr. Wright’s last game had very broad appeal. It was played by millions of people who don’t see the need for DSL or cable and who aren’t tech-savvy enough to immediately understand what DRM is and why they can’t play their game. If Spore attracts a similar audience it will make these casual gamers angry and generate boatloads of bad PR. Or alternately, what if the game goes the route of certain other Maxis projects?

Plus, eventually, what if I get the urge to fire it up again in ten years? I occasionally do that with old strategy games I remember fondly, will I be completely unable to with Spore?

The worst part of it all is that it probably won’t put too big a dent in piracy. Software pirates are a dedicated lot, they’re going to break this just like they’ve broken the schemes it replaces. So in the end it’s just inconveniencing paying customers.